负性面孔的工作记忆离线态存储不影响在线态存储

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2025.1323

摘要/Abstract

摘要：

已有研究表明, 负性面孔在工作记忆的在线态存储中具有加工优势; 同时负性面孔也可能诱发个体的负性情绪状态, 从而影响后续的工作记忆加工过程。然而, 对于负性面孔信息被储存于离线态时, 是否会影响在线态记忆加工, 尚未有研究进行探讨。本研究采用序列记忆提取任务, 结合脑电记录分析技术, 考察了离线态表征为愤怒/中性面孔时在线态记忆的行为表现和脑电响应差异。行为结果显示, 负性面孔的离线记忆表现优于中性面孔, 但两种条件下的在线记忆成绩无显著差异。脑电数据分析显示, 在在线态记忆加工过程中, 与编码阶段注意资源分配相关的晚期正电位(LPP)不受离线态情绪面孔条件的影响。此外, 维持阶段的脑电解码结果也未发现存在条件间神经活动的显著差异。这些结果表明, 离线态存储的负性面孔信息不会对在线态记忆编码和维持加工产生影响。这一发现为理解视觉工作记忆中情绪信息的加工机制提供了新的实证依据。

关键词: 视觉工作记忆, 情绪面孔, 多态储存, ERP解码, LPP

Abstract:

Visual working memory (VWM) is a cognitive system responsible for the temporary storage and manipulation of visual information and serves as a cornerstone for high-level social cognition. State-based models propose that memory representations are hierarchically organized: items within the focus of attention are maintained in an active state, while those outside this focus are retained in a passive state. Previous research investigated the passive storage mechanisms predominantly employed simple color stimuli, demonstrating that passive memory storage operates independently from active memory processing. However, in daily-life context, facial information processing is critically important for human social interactions. It remains unclear whether variations in the emotional valence of faces retained in the passive state affect concurrent active memory processing.

To address this question, this study adopted a sequential presentation memory task involving 22 college students, who were instructed to memorize two sequentially presented arrays containing face stimuli. The first array (M1) was expected to enter the passive state during the active maintenance of the second array (M2). The emotional valence of face stimuli in M1 was either angry or neutral, whereas M2 always contained neutral faces. Behavioral performance and EEG neural activities were recorded, including late positive potential (LPP, indexing encoding attention), contralateral delay activity (CDA, reflecting active memory storage), and the whole-trial neural decoding of memory representations.

Behavioral results showed that the emotional valence modulation of M1 had no significant impact on performance related to M2. Consistently, neural indices suggested functional independence between active and passive storage states. Specifically: 1) during the encoding of M2, parieto-occipital LPP amplitudes did not differ as a function of M1’s emotional valance, indicating that attentional resource allocation remained unaffected; 2) multivariate decoding of M2-related maintenance-phase activity yielded no distinguishable neural patterns between angry- and neutral-face in M1. Moreover, time-generalization analysis confirmed that passive representations lacked cross-phase generalizability.

These findings support the notion of resource independence between VWM active and passive states, indicating that emotional representations in the passive state do not influence ongoing memory processing. These results extend the domain-general characteristics of passive storage to complex socially relevant stimuli, and highlight the adaptive efficiency of VWM in processing sequentially presented facial information. Overall, the present study demonstrates that emotional information stored in the passive state does not interfere with concurrent active processing of facial stimuli.

Key words: visual working memory, emotional faces, state-based models, ERP decoding, LPP

中图分类号:

B842

王俊博, 赵娜, 李子媛, 刘强. (2025). 负性面孔的工作记忆离线态存储不影响在线态存储. 心理学报, 57(8), 1323-1332.

WANG Junbo, ZHAO Na, LI Ziyuan, LIU Qiang. (2025). The passive storage of negative facial expressions in working memory does not affect the active state storage. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 57(8), 1323-1332.

图/表 6

图1 实验流程图

图2 行为结果图

注：***表示p < 0.001, ns代表p ≥ 0.05

图3 CDA结果图注：其中深灰色部分为刺激呈现阶段，浅灰色部分为维持期。彩图见电子版, 下同

图4 两个条件下对应电极点的LPP成分注：红色虚线部分为LPP在M1和M2刺激呈现期间分析时间窗

图5 两条件LPP和辨别力d'差值 (愤怒﹣中性) 线性相关关系图注：图5A为M1编码阶段额叶LPP差值与比辨别力差值的相关图; 图5B为M2编码阶段额叶LPP差值与比辨别力差值的相关图

图6 ERP解码图及时间泛化分析图注：图A为ERP解码图；图B为时间泛化分析图

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